THIRTIETH  CONGRESS— FIRST  SESSION. 

Report  No.  325.  ^  "  / 

[To  accompany  bill  H.  R.  No.  301.] 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


3 .$>3  4 /fy 


NEWSPAPER  SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


March  9,  1848. 


Mr.  Lincoln,  from  the  Committee  on  the  Post  Office  and  Post 

Roads,  made  the  following 

REPORT : 

The  Committee  on  the  Post  Office  and  Post  Roads ,  to  whom  was  re¬ 
ferred  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives ,  entitled 
u  An  act  authorizing  post  masters  at  county  seats  of  justice  to 
receive  subscriptions  for  newspapers  and  periodicals ,  to  be  paid 
t  through  the  agency  of  the  Post  Office  Department ,  and  for  other 
purposes  f  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  report: 

The  committee  have  reason  to  believe  that  a  general  wish  per¬ 
vades  the  community  at  large,  that  some  such  facility  as  the  pro¬ 
posed  measure  should  be  granted  by  express  law,  for  subscribing, 
through  the  agency  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  to  newspapers 
and  periodicals  which  diffuse  daily,  weekly,'  or  monthly,  intelli¬ 
gence  of  passing  events.  Compliance  with  this  general  wish  is 
deemed  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  our  republican 
institutions,  which  can  be  best  sustained  by  the  diffusion  of  know¬ 
ledge  and  the  due  encouragement  of  a  universal  national  spirit  of 
inquiry  and  discussion  of  public  events  through  the  medium  of  the 
public  press.  The  committee,  however,  has  not  been  insensible  to 
its  duty  of  guarding  the  Post  Office  Department  against  injurious 
sacrifices  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  whereby  its  c  rdi- 
nary  efficacy  might  be  impaired  or  embarrassed.  It  has  therefore 
been  a  subject  of  much  consideration;  but  it  is  now  confidently  hoped 
that  the  bill  herewith  submitted  effectually  obviates  all  objections 
■which  might  exist  with  regard  to  a  less  matured  proposition. 

The  committee  learned,  upon  inquiry,  that  the  Post  Office  De¬ 
partment,  in  view  of  meeting  the  general  wish  on  this  subject, 


2  Rep.  No.  325. 

made  the  experiment  through  one  of  its  own  internal  regulations, 
when  the  new  postage  system  went  into  operation  on  the  first  of 
July,  184^,  and  that  it  was  continued  until  the  30th  of  September, 
1847.  But  this  experiment,* for  reasons  hereafter  stated,  proved  un¬ 
satisfactory,  and  it  was  discontinued  by  order  of  the  Postmaster 
General.  As  far  as  the  committee  can  at  present  ascertain,  the  fol¬ 
lowing  seem  to  have  been  the  principal  grounds  of  dissatisfaction 
in  this  experiment: 

1st.  The  legal  responsibility  of  postmasters  receiving  newspaper 
subscriptions,  or,  of  their  sureties,  was  not  defined. 

2d.  The  authority  was  open  to  all  postmasters,  instead  of  being 
limited  to  those  of  specific  offices. 

3d.  The  consequence  of  this  extension  of  authority  was, 'that  in 
innumerable  instances,  the  money,  without  the  previous  knowledge 
or  control  of  the  officers  of  the  department,  who  are  responsible 
for  the  good  management  of  its  finances,  was  deposited  in  offices 
where  it  was  improper  such  funds  should  be  placed;  and  the  re¬ 
payment  was  ordered,  not  by  the  financial  officers,  but  by  the  post¬ 
masters,  at  points  where  it  was  inconvenient  to  the  department  so 
to  disburse  its  funds. 

4th .  The  inconvenience  of  accumulating  uncertain  and  fluctuat¬ 
ing  sums  at  small  offices,  was  felt  seriously  in  consequent  overpay¬ 
ments  to  contractors  on  their  quarterly  collecting  orders;  and,  in 
cases  of  private  mail  routes,  in  litigation  concerning  the  misappli¬ 
cation  of  such  funds  to  the  special  service  of  supplying  mails. 

5th.  The  accumulation  of  such  funds  on  draft  offices,  could  not 
be  known  to  the  financial  clerks  of  the  department  in  time  to  con¬ 
trol  it,  and  too  often  this  rendered  uncertain  all  their  calculations 
of'funds  in  hand. 

6th.  The  orders  of  payment  were,  for  the  most  part,  issued  upon* 
the  principal  offices,  such  as  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Bal¬ 
timore,  &c.,  where  the  large  offices  of  publishers  are  located,  caus¬ 
ing  an  illimitable  and  uncontrolablc  drain  of  the  department’s  funds 
from  those  points  where  it  was  essential  to  husband  them  for  its 
own  regular  disbursements.  In  Philadelphia  alone,  this  drain  aver¬ 
aged  $5,000  per  quarter;  and  in  other  cities  of  the  seaboard  it  was 
proportionate. 

7th.  The  embarrassment  to  the  department  was  increased  by  the 
illimitable,  uncontrolable,  and  irresponsible  scattering  of  its  funds 
from  concentrated  points  suitable  for  its  distributions,  to  remote, 
unsafe,  and  inconvenient  offices,  where  they  could  not  be  again 
made  available  till  collected  by  special  agents,  or  were  transferred 
at  considerable  expense  into  the  principal  disbursing  offices  again. 

8th.  There  was  a  vast  increase  of  duties  thrown  upon  the  limited 
force  before  necessary  to  conduct  the  business  of  the  department; 
and,  from  the  delay  of  obtaining  vouchers,  impediments  arose  to 
the  speedy  settlement  of  accounts  with  present  or  retired  postmas¬ 
ters,  causing  postponements  which  endangered  the  liability  of  sure¬ 
ties  under  the  act  of  limitations,  and  causing  much  danger  of  an 
increase  of  suit  cases. 

9th.  The  most  responsible  postmasters  (at  the  large  offices)  were 


3 


Rep.  No.  325. 

ordered  by  the  least  responsible  (at  small  offices)  to  make  payments 
upon  their  vouchers,  without  having  the  means  of  ascertaining 
whether  these  vouchers  were  genuine  or  forged,  or,  if  genuine, 
whether  the  signers  were  in  or  out  of  office,  or  solvent  or  a  de¬ 
faulter. 

10th.  The  transaction  of  this  business  for  subscribers  and  pub¬ 
lishers,  at  the  public  expense,  and  the  embarrassment,  inconveni¬ 
ence,  and  delay  of  the  department’s  own  business  occasioned  by  it, 
was  not  justified  by  any  sufficient  remuneration  of  revenue  to  sus¬ 
tain  the  department,  as  required  in  every  other  respect  with  regard 
to  its  agency. 

The  committee,  in  view  of  all  these  objections,  has  been  solicit¬ 
ous  to  frame  a  bill  which  "would  not  be  obnoxious  to  them  in  prin¬ 
ciple  or  in  practical  effect. 

It  is  confidently  believed  that,  by  limiting  the  offices  for  receiving 
subscriptions  to  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  number  authorized  by 
the  experiment  already  tried,  and  designating  the  county  seat  in 
each  county  for  the  purpose,  the  control  of  the  department  will  be 
rendered  satisfactory;  particularly  as  it  will  be  in  the  power  of  the 
Auditor,  who  is  the  officer  required  by  law  to  check  the  accounts, 
to  approve  or  disapprove  of  the  deposits,  and  to  sanction  not  only 
the  payment,  but  to  point  out  the  place  of  payment.  If  these  pay¬ 
ment  should  cause  a  drain  on  the  principal  offices  of  the  seaboard, 
it  will  be  compensated  by  the  accumulation  of  the  funds  at  county 
seats,  where  the  contractors  on  those  routes  can  be  paid  to  that  ex¬ 
tent  by  the  department’s  drafts,  with  more  local  convenience  to 
themselves  than  by  drafts  on  the  seaboard  offices. 

The  legal  responsibility  for  these  deposites  is  defined,  and  the 
accumulation  of  funds  at  the  points  of  deposite,  and  the  repayment 
at  points  drawn  upon,  being  known  to,  and  controlled  by,  the  Au¬ 
ditor,  will  not  occasion  any  such  embarrassments  as  were  before 
felt;  the  record  k^pt  by  the  Auditor  on  the  passing  of  the  certifi¬ 
cates  through  his  hands,  will  enable  him  to  settle  accounts  without 
the  delay  occasioned  by  vouchers  being  withheld;  all  doubt  and 
uncertainty  as  to  the  genuineness  of  certificates  or  the  propriety  of 
their  issue,  will  be  removed  by  the  Auditor’s  examination  and  ap¬ 
proval;  and  there  can  be  no  risk  of  loss  of  funds  by  transmission, 
as  the  certificate  will  not  be  payable  till  sanctioned  by  the  Auditor; 
and,  after  his  sanction,  the  payor  need  not  pay  it  unless  it  is  pre¬ 
sented  by  the  publisher  or  his  known  clerk  or  agent. 

The  main  principle  of  equivalent  for  the  agency  of  the  depart¬ 
ment,  is  secured  by  the  postage  required  to  be  paid  upon  the  trans¬ 
mission  of  the  certificates,  augmenting  adequately  the  post  office 

revenue.  *  . 

The  committee,  conceiving  that  in  this  report  all  the  difficulties 
of  the  subject  have  been  fully  and  fairly  stated,  and  that  these  dif¬ 
ficulties  are  obviated  by  the  plan  proposed  in  the  accompanying 
bill;  and  believing  that  the  measure  will  satisfactorily  meet  the 
wants  and  wishes  of  a  very  large  portion  of  the  community,  beg 
leave  to  recommend  its  adoption. 


Mr 


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